YouTube TV Ending Support for App Store Subscriptions in March

[Onelifenofear]

For stuff like this I am surprised they didn't stop paying Apple sooner. Just dumb to cough up 30% to Apple for a subscription like this. Way to expensive and Apple can't justify a 30% cut. Apple fix your ****!!

It's 30% for the first year then 15% Onward for subscriptions.

The Amount of profit google make it huge anyway and the Platform it provides is priceless.

Subscribing through Apple is anonymous if you want it to be...won't be the case with Google payment.

Apple disabled my app years ago and refused to allow any new builds until I implemented In App purchasing. I had been handling everything via PayPal. If YouTube can get away with not paying the Apple premium, then why should I have to?

If you want to set up a payment method an login though a website service... then have people log into your app you can. You then have to manage the Users / Payments and verifications yourself. It's just a log on to a service for apple. Audible works like this. You cannot buy books through the app as that direct competitor to iBooks... but they could do subscriptions though the iPhone in apps purchasing but they prefer to have it all though Amazon payments unsurprisingly.

Personally I think it's worth the 30% ( going down to 15% in the second year ) if I were doing it... What was Paypal cut anyway?

 

[nylonsteel]

utube is getting to be a pain with endless adverts, monetization driven content and some fake information. utube used to be good. now its so 1990s-to-2015ish
albiet i still watch it over airwave tv and i have learned practical stuff
someone else mentioned getting utube premium - ugh - that just puts more money into the utube monster
i wish the innocent days of myspace and early craigslist would come back
oh well get over it - its gone baby

 

[russell_314]

Your an idiot, you do realize it costs money to do everything on the internet.. while blocking some ad's makes sense due to sites with obsessive ad's or very annoying ones, but most sites are not that bad, including YouTube.. and if you don't like it, its not that expensive to pay for the non ad version. Personally I like what YouTube does, has a free version for most people and those that watch it a lot can pay to avoid them. But really this is about YouTube TV which is not YouTube... its your cord cutting cable alternative.

If you feel like paying Google to watch videos by all means go ahead. If you think me not doing the same makes me an idiot then that's your opinion. If it was just the short ad before the start of a video I might not have went the ad blocker route but some videos have multiple ads. If I want to support a particular person on YouTube I'll go the Patron route.

 

[CarlJ]

Your an idiot, ...

When calling out someone in this manner, you're always better off if you don't make grammatical errors in the very process of questioning someone else's intelligence.

 

[DEMinSoCAL]

I find it amusing that people are mad that they have to pay a fee, but yet are exposed to millions of users in which they might otherwise not be able to get to.

I could have an app with 10K subscribers or through Apple increase my customer base up to 100K which will cost me 15% but yet that's revenue I otherwise would not have had. Merchants pay VISA / transaction -- it's the same thing. A subscription is buying a product - each time you use the system there is a fee. Some people aren't thankful that they can have such opportunities.

You have choices, choose to participate, or not to. But if you do I would expect you to prosper. Cost of doing business.

You're not really very clear on the whole issue, are you?

First, VISA charges about 2-3% per transaction. I don't know many businesses that could stay in business giving up 30% of every sale to VISA. Actually, none could stay in business.

Second, people come to the app store to get the app AFTER deciding they want to pay for the service. I haven't seen any Apple-subsidized advertisement promoting YouTube TV. So i don't really see how you think that with Apple being the payment system, YT is somehow increasing their viewership.

Third, you can easily pay for your YTTV subscription online. For FREE. Doesn't cost you anything extra, and YTTV gets all the money. Apple just distributes the app. Should they get something for that? Considering they've made it practically impossible to distribute an app OUTSIDE of the App Store, I say no.

 

[raghu8912]

For stuff like this I am surprised they didn't stop paying Apple sooner. Just dumb to cough up 30% to Apple for a subscription like this. Way to expensive and Apple can't justify a 30% cut. Apple fix your ****!!

it's 30% first signup, 15% after that.
If people start doing this then every one can give away the app for free and activate the app on the app providers website.

 

[seanrt]

Yes, i was tried of seeing so many ads.
I mostly use YouTube on my Apple TV through casting from my iPhone.

(I did have the sense to subscribe via web browser & not by the iOS app.)

Curious. If watching on the Apple TV, why cast from iPhone and not use the direct app?

 

[ElioLugaru]

Curious. If watching on the Apple TV, why cast from iPhone and not use the direct app?

Oh, Its so i can post comment on videos while watching & queuing videos to watch.
Perhaps i should of mentioned i cast via the YouTube apps & not Screen Mirroring.

 

[connormw]

For recurring customers it's 15%, not 30%. And honestly, the stickiness benefits alone are probably worth that to them, especially for a service of questionable value like YouTube TV.

People can quantify value however they want. But when you consider YouTube TV offers dozens of channels, all w/ unlimited DVR (literally unlimited - mark an episodic or single-run TV program to record and you have access to the recording, the VOD, etc.) most people who subscribe, like myself, consider that a great value.

I DVR over 7 hours of TV each day Monday-Friday. The Apple TV app works great, the experience on PCs works great too. You may not necessarily think it is valuable to yourself, but to call it of "questionable value" is not accurate for those who actively subscribe to the service. It'd be like saying an iCloud storage account is of "questionable value". No one is staying subscribed to YouTube TV for $55/mo for the "stickiness value" of the IAP subscription Apple offers.

it's 30% first signup, 15% after that.
If people start doing this then every one can give away the app for free and activate the app on the app providers website.

Literally not at all how that works, but okay.

This is for people who DON'T have a cable provider. It provides local/US primary channel support (ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox) plus key content networks (Discovery, sports networks, additional paid services, etc.) It's designed for cord-cutters. There is no activation.

Also, don't a lot of TV networks do this already? Apple seems totally fine w/ places like MTV, TLC, Food Network, etc. offering free apps w/ cable logins. No cut is being given to Apple there.

 

[Zahni]

In-App purchase in Germany still available...

 

[itsmilo]

People actually pay for YouTube?

i used an VPN and subscribed via Turkey. It’s only 2 bucks instead of 13 (the regular YouTube that is)

In-App purchase in Germany still available...

Funny, cuz YouTube TV isn’t even available in Germany ?

 

[Zahni]

Funny, cuz YouTube TV isn’t even available in Germany ?

I can use my TV ?

 

[the_bubble]

It‘s funny because Google itself takes the same 30/15% cut for Play Store subscriptions. They actually took a bigger cut a few years back and reduced it to match Apple.

 

[Abazigal]

People actually pay for YouTube?

I do. It’s refreshing not getting any ads (I largely stream from my Apple TV or iPad) and I get to support the creators while at it.

 

[Tech198]

It always comes down to Apple taking a cut other business seem to hate..

As if its something they reckon that just happened yesterday.....which it didn't..

If you go onto the App store convenient pricing for users, you only have yourself to blame,


Another one bites the dust....apparently

 

[kaycrystal626]

I think Apple should cut down on subscription prices for other vendors!

 

[deeddawg]

Great. Now I can expect 100% more sign up now” pop ups within the YouTube app.

You're confusing YouTube with YouTubeTV - the latter being the television service carrying various networks programming both live & VOD, as well as local broadcast channels, with cloud DVR capability.
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Thank god I return my apple 4k.... Wouldve been pissed if google tv app stopped working.

Works just fine. You didn't understand the article. YTTV is ceasing subscriptions through the App store for those last few folks who weren't subscribing via direct payment using credit card or paypal.
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Too much YouTube censorship for me to pay them for a subscription. No thanks

You're confusing two different services.

YouTube != YoutTubeTV

YTTV is essentially a replacement for your cable or satellite television service, providing the various network programming both live and VOD, usually including local broadcasters.
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utube is getting to be a pain with endless adverts, monetization driven content and some fake information. utube used to be good. now its so 1990s-to-2015ish

See above - YouTubeTV is a different product.
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I can use my TV ?

I think you're confusing two different services. YouTube and YouTubeTV are not at all the same thing.

 

[deeddawg]

I think I'm going to use Hulu+ Live TV instead. YouTube is too Googly for me.

When I tried Hulu's live tv service it was decent. What killed it for me though was I couldn't use it on television-connected devices at both our home and our little weekend place. I can do that with YTTV. Saves me a ton of money vs. paying two cable bills (the rural cable company is stupidly expensive too)

 

[Varking]

I was invited to special test group for YouTube TV at the end of 2019 and a few of the things on the pipeline was the ability to pay more for:
4k Live Streams where applicable
Up to 6 live streams at one time
The ability to sync your stream with another person on the family plan to watch things at the same time and ability to message each other from within the app itself.

Not amazing over the top features for its pretty cool.

 

[az431]

When I signed up about two weeks ago, I could not do so through the app store, even though I wanted to and tried to, so this may have already been in effect for some.

Also, yes Google=Youtube. I reluctantly came from Vue when they shut down.
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I'd happily pay a 15% premium to keep my personal data personal.

How does paying via IAP keep your data personal?

Apple disabled my app years ago and refused to allow any new builds until I implemented In App purchasing. I had been handling everything via PayPal. If YouTube can get away with not paying the Apple premium, then why should I have to?

There is no rule that says you can't accept other forms of payment outside of the App Store.
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So I should go setup my shop at the mall, tell customers go outside to pay and come back in, so that I don’t have to pay my landlord their rent because they charge based on your volume in their store? Wow. YouTube TV sucks.

Not sure the relevance of a brick and mortar store to online payments. Enlighten us.
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It‘s funny because Google itself takes the same 30/15% cut for Play Store subscriptions. They actually took a bigger cut a few years back and reduced it to match Apple.

What makes it funny? They're supposed to charge zero to their customers simply because they don't want to pay Apple anything?
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You're not really very clear on the whole issue, are you?

First, VISA charges about 2-3% per transaction. I don't know many businesses that could stay in business giving up 30% of every sale to VISA. Actually, none could stay in business.

Second, people come to the app store to get the app AFTER deciding they want to pay for the service. I haven't seen any Apple-subsidized advertisement promoting YouTube TV. So i don't really see how you think that with Apple being the payment system, YT is somehow increasing their viewership.

Third, you can easily pay for your YTTV subscription online. For FREE. Doesn't cost you anything extra, and YTTV gets all the money. Apple just distributes the app. Should they get something for that? Considering they've made it practically impossible to distribute an app OUTSIDE of the App Store, I say no.

You don't know much about business.

The average business spends 90% of their revenue on rent, insurance, utilities, etc, none of which apply when someone develops an app and sells it through the App Store.

Is 30% fair and equitable in all cases? No, but it can't be compared to credit card fees.

 

[Romeo_Nightfall]

When I signed up about two weeks ago, I could not do so through the app store, even though I wanted to and tried to, so this may have already been in effect for some.

Also, yes Google=Youtube. I reluctantly came from Vue when they shut down.
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I'd happily pay a 15% premium to keep my personal data personal.

open a paypal account and save Your bucks + although I think You might be a Apple paid troll!

 

[polbit]

It seems that people are confusing two things here. YouTube Premium is an ad-free YouTube, and included with Google Music/YouTube Music. YouTube TV is a TV service with 70 or so channels with unlimited DVR, etc. Two separate products.

 

[The Phazer]

Wow, this is extremely idiotic of them. Netflix was smart enough to keep app store subscriptions active and just stop new signups, because they know that they'll lose millions of subscribers who are "passive", IE, they're not using the service but don't care that they're being billed.

I'm sure YouTube has plenty of these too; revenue with a 15% cut is better than no revenue at all!

Not if you only have a 10% margin it isn't.

It's literally losing money on every transaction and hoping to make it up in scale.
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People will just stay signed up for the service just through the YouTube TV site and stay logged in on their Apple devices. You don't have to give up the service. Google was charging more for this on the App Store to make up the difference. Now anyone who wants the service and was on iOS will save 5 bucks a month.

No they weren't. You're specifically prohibited from doing this by the App Store terms.

 

[ss2cire]

So does this mean that I wont be bugged about signing up for YouTube TV in the app anymore? I always wished there was an option to say "Don't ask me again", I am currently not interested and I'm not sure I will be.

 

[BuffaloTF]

15% cut just to facilitate billing is ridiculous.

Is it though?

You know all those Gift Cards for Netflix, Hulu, even Apple App Store Credit, Google Play credit, Xbox cards, Playstation cards...? They're all over the place in big box stores and grocery stores... can't miss 'em...

Those cost that specific brand 20% of the face value, paid to Blackhawk Networks. 5% goes back to the store that sold it (which is why Costco, Sams Club, BJs... offer 5% discounts on them)... so Blackhawk is making 15% themselves on it.

Strange... we only have a problem with Apple charging 15%, yet everyone else does too....... very strange indeed.